AThousandWaystosayILoveYouand notMeanaWordofit
by paigenumber
Summary: A Thousand Ways to Say I Love You and not Mean a Word of it. Follows Rosie Hunter, will criss cross with "Proving the Heart Wrong". Rosie is my OC.
1. Chapter 1

_**Prolog;**_

_**Disclaimer;**_ I don't own this amazing series of books, but I do own Rosie Hunter.

* * *

Rosie looked down at the man sleeping beside her, his chest was bare and his hair was ruffled with sleep. His breathing was soft, untroubled and his arm was wrapped around her waist, keeping her safe.

A small lock of his hair fell into his eyes and she gently pushed it off his forehead, yet again admiring the man she loved.

Everything about him made her heart beat faster and her breath catch in her throat. He had a way of turning her usual confident self into a blushing and babbling mess.

Rosie couldn't help cuddling in closer to him and burying her head into the crook of his neck. His arm unconsciously pulled her closer to him and he buried his head into her hair, breathing in the scent of her shampoo.

She let herself start to drift into the comfortable ignorance of sleep, content with his strong arms around her.

Her mind wondered while she was asleep, thinking of how she'd fallen for the man in her bed, how she was so in love with him. Head over heels, really.

She hadn't made it easy, that was for sure, but he'd loved the chase. He'd never given up on her. He'd always been there for her, through all the troubled moments of her life and she had no regrets for falling completely in love with him.

After all, love was everything. It was waking up on a Sunday morning to smell blueberry pancakes. It was the first snowfall of winter. It was completely giving yourself to someone and trusting them with your heart, your mind, your body and your soul.

Rosie Hunter never used to believe in love. She didn't see love in Sunday morning pancakes, as she never had pancakes on Sundays. She didn't see love in the first snowfall of winter, only life continuing as it should. She didn't see why people gave themselves to someone completely and then having their heart smashed to pieces like porcelain on a cement floor without a word of complaint.

He'd changed that. He'd showed her the beauty of life, of everything around her. He opened her eyes to possibilities she never used to believe were possible. He challenged her and pushed her to her full potential. He got on her nerves every single second of every single day, but she loved him for it.

Rosie could still vividly remember how she fell for him, every touch, every word, every single sound... she remembered it all.

Love was a conundrum, she'd decided a while back, but when you figured it out…the sense of accomplishment it brought to you… the happiness…it could never be forgotten. Hearts broke and feelings changed, it's true, there's no reason to dance around the subject. Heartbreak was why Rosie didn't give in earlier. She'd seen what a broken heart had done to her father, her brothers and her friends and she'd wanted nothing to do with love what so ever. She hadn't realized that caring for her friends was love, worrying about her family, comforting a crying child…all of it was love.

Rosie had a saying she'd taken to during her fourth year, when he'd kept asking her out. She'd known he'd hated the saying, hated it with a passion, and that's exactly why she said. Over and over again, every time he tried to show his affection.

The saying had changed over time, because of him. Every morning he woke up and murmured it into her ear before going to work or running an errand. Every night he whispered it to her while she rode the tides of a dream. And every morning and every night she fell in love with him all over again.

Rosie had dated boys before him, she'd even fooled herself into thinking she was in love, but she wasn't. She never was.

Rosie had kissed boys before him.

Her beliefs in love had been effected well beyond her first kiss, but that also put a crack in the vase.

There'd been no fireworks, no planets aligning, and no connection.

She understood why now, because it hadn't been him she was kissing. When she kissed him, it was like she was falling in love all over again. The slightest touch from him made her breath catch, the smallest kiss made her knees buckle.

This story, the story of how a girl fell in love, is way over done. They don't believe in love and by the end of it, everyone's happy...right?

Wrong.

Hearts are broken along the way, and how they fell in love, so easily, so effortlessly, shattered more than one heart. Just because they fell in love easily doesn't mean they gave in quickly. Rosie put up one hell of a fight before she admitted she was in love with him.

And so did he.

He'd hated that he was in love with her, positively despised the fact. Despised the fact that she didn't love him back, didn't even give him a chance. He'd brought her flowers, chocolates, presents and she rejected it all.

Rosie believed he was trying to bribe her into falling in love with him and how wrong she was.

So, he'd moved on for a few years, dated other girls and tried to get her out of his mind to no avail.

That's the thing about love, you can love someone so completely that you would die for him or her, or you could love someone so much that you move on for him or her and live the rest of your life in numb contention.

Thank God it isn't one of those stories.


	2. Chapter 2 The First Year Part One

_**Chapter One; **_

_**The First Year- Part One **_

* * *

Rosie stared around at the platform in absolute bewilderment, her heart beating rapidly in her chest as she struggled to swallow around the large lump in her throat.

Hogwarts…she was finally going to Hogwarts…

She couldn't stifle the excited laugh that bubbled from her mouth like melodic music as she gazed at the gleaming red train. She just...she couldn't believe it!

She'd always known there was something different about her but she could never put her foot on it. Of course that was until Professor McGonagall had arrived on her doorstep with her Hogwarts letter.

* * *

It'd be at least a month since Professor McGonagall had visited the farm and explained to her parents that their daughter, their only daughter, was gifted with magic. Rosie remembered the meeting like it had happened only minutes before.

Her heart had stopped, literally stopped, and her breath had caught when she'd opened the letter and read it.

"Th-there must be a mi-mistake..." Rosie had stuttered out as she met eyes with the stern looking woman. For the first time in her life, Rosie Hunter had felt genuine fear. Having heard about such an amazing, magical world she didn't want to return to her average, ordinary life where her supposed aspiration was to be a farmer's wife. She'd always wanted more with her life.

Sure, she could ride a horse as easily as breathing but she didn't want that to be the only achievement in her life.

When the stern lady had curtly explained that Albus Dumbledore did _not _do mistakes, Rosie burst into tears of unsuppressed joy, which her parents had mistook for tears of anguish. Professor McGonagall met Rosie's eyes as her father launched into how Rosie's dream was to be a farmer's wife and so on, and to her relief, Professor McGonagall looked like she was going to get Rosie to Hogwarts with or without her parents consent.

All eight of her older brothers had been envious of her at first, teasing her continuously and spooking her horse while she was riding it. It would have gotten to Rosie, well it did in all honesty, but she was not going to admit that. It would have gotten to her if she hadn't found her escape.

Whenever they'd spook her horse it would usually buck her off, flinging her to a possible injury, but instead of dropping to the ground like a sack of potatoes, she floated gracefully as if an air current had embraced her and didn't want to witness her falling and possibly being hurt.

Honestly, Rosie believed her father and brother's were relieved that she was a witch, preferring that to the alternative. The two of her brothers that had accompanied them to the station had joked on the long car ride to Kings Cross that they'd assumed she was an alien and that their "real" sister had been swapped with her at birth. They probably wouldn't have been able to promise an alien to a farmer like livestock, she'd thought bitterly at the time.

Rosie had rolled her eyes and dug her elbow into the closest brother's ribs, sneaking a glance at her father to see if he'd noticed the quick maneuver.

He hadn't as he was busy chuckling to himself.

"We did have our suspicions when you turned the horses blue Rosie…"

She'd had to endure similar jibes all the way to the station, the small wicker cat basket on her lap wiggling slightly as her cat,Valkyrie, tried to get out. "If I'm trapped...so are you. For now at least." Rosie thought, as the patted the top of the basket guiltily.

* * *

Rosie's oldest brother, Nate, nudged her towards the train a big smile on his face as he ruffled her hair, earning him a murderous glare as she ducked away from his hand. He chuckled as he shoved his hands deeply in his pockets. "You better hurry on kiddo, you're already running late as it is."

She nodded but bit her lip softly and tried not to bolt towards the train without saying good bye. She was nearly free... nearly.

She was excited, very excited. She had the opportunity to do what no one else in her family had ever been able to do.

Learn magic.

Have a choice in the course of their future

It was just that she'd thought she would have had more time to say goodbye…it just felt so rushed. Sure, she was literally jumping up and down for joy at the fact that she was going to be off the farm, but she loved her family.

Her family pulled together into a bone crushing hug and Rosie felt the air being forced from her lungs as her family hugged her tighter.

"Now...don't forget to...t-to write..." Her mother burst into tears and her father pulled her close to him, resting his chin on her head as he soothingly rubbed her back. Rosie felt her stomach drop. Her mother was devastated to see her go and here she was counting down the seconds until she could run onto the train and not look back.

She dug her fingernails into her palms guiltily, trying not to give her mother exactly what she wanted, Rosie to beg to return home and forget all about her magic. As guilty as she felt, there was no way in hell she could forget about her magic.  
Upon the suggestion of their father, Nate and Tom helped shove Rosie's trunk onto the train and gave her one last, tight hug. "Be good kiddo okay? We won't be there to protect you anymore."

Rosie slapped their arms and grinned brightly, feeling a rush of affection towards her two oldest brothers. "I can always put them in a headlock like Nate taught me. Or elbow them like Tom taught me."

Tom laughed and ruffled her hair before pushing her onto the train. As Rosie cast them one last look she caught a family four standing not to far away from where her family was.

The parents were giving her family disgusted glances and Rosie wrinkled her nose.

Rosie didn't really understand the direction of the looks so she hurried and claimed a seat in a compartment, placing Valkyrie's basket on the seat beside her as she looked out the window, not realizing she had a perfect view of the odd family.

The older of the two children had long shaggy hair and a slightly pale complexion but his grin made his facial features friendly and open. His mother whispered some harsh words to him before his father brutally shoved the boy into the train. As he was shoved onto the train the boy caught her eyes and his widened slightly.

Rosie broke eye contact and pushed her dark auburn hair out of her eyes, leaning back against the seat as she felt the train give a small lurch as it started forward. Her heart leapt with excitement and she beamed.

The train was truly on its way and Rosie was in the compartment alone. Being alone suited her, it gave her time to get the whirlwind inside of her that she called emotions under control. A few minutes into the long journey she'd let her cat out of the basket. Valkyrie was now stretched out across the seat sleepily, her sleek, sky grey coat looking as soft and warm as ever, her ice blue eyes a complete contrast. Rosie patted the cat behind the ears as two loud boys passed the compartment.

She watched them curiously until she realized it was the boy who'd she'd seen on the platform. She felt her good mood lessen as she felt guilt over seeing that boy being...being manhandled and not being able to do anything.

He must have noticed her too because he nudged his companion, whispered something too low for her to hear and they both entered the compartment, sprawling down on the seats directly across from her without a single word passing between the boys and Rosie.

Having them sitting directly across from her did help her notice the smaller details of the appearances of the boy from the platform and his mate.

The boy from the platform had dark shaggy hair that fell over his face in just the right way, making his pale grey eyes stand out in comparison.

His companion on the other hand had unruly black hair that he kept ruffling and big hazel eyes, framed by glasses.

Rosie felt a slight blush color her cheeks, they were quite handsome.

Rosie held her hand out to them, a small smile on her face.  
"Hi, I'm Rosie Hunter."

The platform boy took her hand and shook it enthusiastically. "Sirius Black." Rosie noted that he said his name in a way that meant that everyone should know exactly who he was.

When Sirius released her hand Rosie held it out to the boy with the glasses, amusement sparkling in her eyes as she scratched the back of her cat's ears absently.

"And you are?"

The other boy shook her hand and grinned crookedly. "James Potter." Rosie noticed he'd also said his name as Sirius had, as if they both had a high air of importance.

Sirius leaned back in the chair, his grey eyes analyzing over the pretty girl. She was short, he could tell that and her smile had the tiniest hint of naughtiness in it, like she was up to something. She had eyes that were a soft blue one moment and a dark grey a moment later.

Sirius froze and leaned forward on his chair, his elbows leaning on his knees as he looked into her eyes intently. He didn't think it was the trick of the light, it couldn't be.

"How'd you do that?" He asked curiously, watching her eyes intently and waiting to see if they changed again.

Rosie frowned and looked at him as if he'd just said the sky was purple and made of hedgehogs, almost like he was a mental patient.

"Do what?" Rosie asked skeptically, running a hand through her hair. Was there something on her face? Food, perhaps? Or had her brother's done something to sabotage her first year at a new school?

"Your eyes." James filled in, running a hand through his hair as he watched the girl with great curiosity, his position matching Sirius's.

Rosie made an understanding noise and visibly relaxed. Now that, that wasn't that bad. "Oh...you mean the colors right? Yeah..I don't know why, but they've just always done it..." She trailed off with a shrug and cast her gaze out of the window, taking in the unfamiliar scenery.

She'd never liked talking about her ever changing features, especially since she had no control whatsoever on it.

"So you're a metamorphagus?" Sirius asked wistfully, almost as if the boy would have traded anything to be one at that exact moment.

"A meta what?" Rosie felt stupid asking a question they both seemed to know the answer to but realized she'd never learn anything about the new world she was in if she didn't bother asking questions.

James cocked his head to the side and ruffled his hair again.  
"Didn't your parents teach you about them?"

Rosie lightly bit her lip and shrugged again. She wished, oh Merlin, she did. She wished her parents had spent time teaching her about magic instead of planning her wedding seven years too early.

"My parents are muggles. I grew up on a _farm._" She said said farm with a great level of distaste. Rosie had never really enjoyed living on the farm. Sure, she'd adored riding the horses but being made to muck out seventy four stalls? No thank-you.

She watched carefully as the two boys shared a quick look and said at exactly the same time; "Wicked."

* * *

_**Admittedly not the best of my work... Please review if you don't like a particular bit and I'll work on it.**_


	3. Chapter 3: First Year, part 2

**Chapter Two:**

**~A few months later~**

* * *

With a yawn Rosie adjusted how her blouse was sitting as she hurried up the steps to the boys dormitories. Since James and Sirius had continuously been late to class Rosie, the ever-early bird, had taken it upon herself to wake them up every morning with plenty of time to complete their morning preparations.

They were definitely a challenge to deal with in the morning, but she put up with them. Growing up on a farm with only her eight brothers and parents for company, Rosie hadn't exactly been around girls enough to understand how different they acted compared to boys.

Sure, she understood that girls were definitely different than boys but she also found their continued bitchiness a challenge and refused to put up with their bullying.

* * *

Everything about Hogwarts engaged Rosie. The long sweeping hallways, the ways the staircases moved; just to keep things interesting, the way some doors had to be asked nicely to open, it all made Rosie's mind whirl with wonder.

She loved the lessons on magic, especially transfiguration. She was already excelling and Rosie and Remus Lupin, the newest edition to Sirius and James's friendship group, were always tutoring the other boys and helping them with their assessments.

Sirius still found time to question her about her ever changing eye colors and all she could do was shrug, as she didn't really know the answer. Sirius seemed to think she was holding out on him and kept bringing up the incident that happened on the boats.

There'd been Rosie, James, Sirius and Remus all crammed into the boat and Rosie had been shivering violently. Sure, her farm wasn't the warmest place in England, but it was pretty bloody close. Sirius had taken one look at her and instantly shrugged out of his cloak and wrapped it around her, tugged his woolen hat low over her head and wrapped his scarf around her.

Sirius had smirked at her slightly before turning towards James, his grin getting somewhat wider if possible.

"Girls definitely have no blood, mate. Rosie, how are you cold in this? This-" Sirius had then proceeded to stand up and wave his arms in the air, letting the cool wind caress against the somewhat exposed skin because he'd rolled his sleeves up to rest on his biceps.

"-is beach weather."

Rosie had then proceeded to give James an exceptionally sly look before bringing her foot up and letting it rest against Sirius's thigh, pushing off forcefully. Before he'd had time to prepare himself, Sirius had been pushed backwards into the lake.

* * *

Rosie knocked on the door to the boy's room loudly, shouting through the wood at them loudly. The boys had fitted into the rituals of her screaming them into consciousness easily and had stopped throwing stuff at her because she threw worse things back.

That was definitely something the boys gave to Rosie, she was one tough girl. She'd had to be though, growing up on a farm surrounded only by men and few women, she'd had to fight her way through her childhood.

Sirius sleepily opened the door just as he was fixing up his tie, James was on his bed tying his shoes and Remus was quietly reading in the window seat. Their morning rituals were always the same. The boys always in exactly the same position.

* * *

As they walked down to breakfast, Sirius and Rosie joked back and forth while James and Remus discussed the Transfiguration essay. As soon as the words "Transfiguration essay, due today." Sirius looked at them all, his eyes filled with unsuppressed worry.

"W-we had an essay!?" Rosie sighed and pulled a roll of parchment out of her bag, hit him over the head with it and took a seat at the Gryffindor table, digging into her breakfast.

Sirius unrolled the scroll and examined it quietly. "What's this Hunter?" Rosie looked up from where she had been shoving a piece of bacon into her mouth. Thankfully, Remus stepped in and explained. "You're lucky Rosie knew you wouldn't do it and she gave you her first attempt."

Sirius gave Rosie a grateful hug and then let her return to breakfast when she made an angry, muffled sound. "You, Rosie Hunter, are a lifesaver."

Rosie shrugged in an "I try," sort of way before returning her full attention to her breakfast.

That night, in front of the fire a girl with orange hair came and sat beside Rosie. The girl had bright, intelligent green eyes and a sweet smile.  
Rosie knew that she shared her dorm with this girl, and that she wasn't as bad as the others but she was still pretty bad.

Rosie Hunter was not a quite girl, never had been, never wanted to be. In all honestly, she had way too much to say and never thought about whether or not to say it. But when she was in her dorm, she had no one to talk to, no one who shared any of her interests.

Until she met Lily Evans. The girls became quick friends and learnt to confide in each other. Rosie taught Lily how to stand up for herself to a degree and Lily taught Rosie to think before she spoke, except Lily always believed that lesson went out the window.

She loved Rosie Hunter; she was like the sister that she'd lost when Petunia had found out about her magic. Except Rosie was nicer and cleverer and actually laughed.

The only thing that slightly annoyed Lily was that her best friend was always around those mean boys that had picked on Severus the first day of school, and she was rather close to them

Lily understood how Rosie could be so close to the boys, she really did, but did it have to be those boys in particular? There were hundreds of boys at Hogwarts and she made friends with the biggest arrogant toe rags Lily had ever met.

Each to their own, she guessed.


	4. Chapter 4: First Year, Part Three

_**Chapter Four; **_

_**First year. Part 3 **_

* * *

"Okay, so, when the Quaffle, that's the big red ball that the Chaser's are throwing around, when that goes through the hoop, the team who did it scores ten points." Sirius whispered into Rosie's ear as they watched the team practice for the upcoming match. They'd been doing this a lot lately, to Rosie utter annoyance. She enjoyed watching the game but didn't understand the rules at all. Upon hearing that Rosie didn't know the simplest thing about Qudditch, he'd dragged her off to the pitch while Gryffindor was practising and had spent his precious Saturday afternoons trying to teach her about the game. It seemed as if she couldn't get it though. She found it easy enough to decipher the Keeper from the rest of the team, but the others kept escaping her. The bashers? Beaters? Smashers? Whatever they were called had the bats and it seemed as if her endless stream of questions was getting on Sirius's last nerve and that he'd soon like to bash her with the bat. Although, he kept patiently explaining the game and their rules to her, his tone had gone from slow and patient, to slightly aggravated.

After Sirius had gave an annoyed groan, having tried to explain the Seeker and it's role to Rosie and failed, he had leaned back in his chair and ran his hands through his hair. Rosie had mirrored his position, her fingers absently tapping out a beat on her lap. One thing kept pricking at the back of her mind, and she couldn't help but vocalise it. "Why do you keep trying to explain this stupid game to me if you're acting so upset!?" She asked angrily, running her hands through her currently black hair. That was another reason her temper had been so short of late. For some unexplainable reason, when she'd woken that morning her hair had been a dark black and she didn't know how it had turned that colour nor how to turn it back. She desperately missed her usual dark auburn and had been taking out her anger on Sirius, she had to admit. That realisation made her feel exceptionally worse, seeing as Sirius could be spending his Saturday with his best mate but had instead decided to spend it with her. When Rosie had said that he didn't need to waste his Saturday's on her, he'd bumped his shoulder into hers and remarked. "How else would I be able to spend time with you, Hunter? You're always around the girls now, we hardly see each other." It was true. Rosie had been spending a fair bit of her time establishing connections with the rest of the girls in her dorm and she did realise that she'd been pushing Sirius away slightly.

Sirius grinned and handed her a chocolate frog that he'd pulled from his trouser pocket as the wind ruffled his already messy hair. "I'm trying to explain it to you because you, Rosie Posie, have potential. I am going to make you into a bloody brilliant Qudditch player by our second year." Warmth spread through her and Rosie bit into the chocolate frog to hide her slight blush. Sirius seemed adamant on the point and henceforth they spent multiple days camped out in the Qudditch stands, just watching the practices progress. It was there time. During the week, they hardly spent time with each other that wasn't either school work or wake up calls.

Rolling her eyes, Rosie pushed Sirius slightly and tugged her jacket more tightly around her. It was the middle of October and the temperature had considerably dropped. They didn't really know, or care, why the Gryffindor team was practising on Halloween, all they knew was that as soon as the practice was over, they'd be heading down to the Halloween feast.

All the older Gryffindors spoke fondly of the Halloween feast and their amazing decorations and spectacular entertainment. The sweets were said to be mouthwatering and left you wanting more and more, while the celebrations were ornate and unforgettable. Some of the older students swore that the Halloween celebrations was the most memorable event at Hogwarts for them.

So, after a few more hours in which Sirius had given up on teaching Rosie the rules of Quddiitch, he'd eventually given up instead and spent the rest of the afternoon tickling her mercilessly. As well as making Rosie want to strangle him, she also wanted to clobber him with one of the Beaters, she'd finally figured out they were called Beaters 'bat'. It was rather annoying that Rosie was ticklish almost anywhere and Sirius just loved taking advantage of that. Sure, she was fairly resourceful and was able to flip him off her within seconds if he pinned her in a normal situation, but it seemed as if her brain turned to mush when she was being tickled. Rosie was slightly thankful that her brother's hadn't figured out that small fact about hers of it would've made her life on the farm exceptionally harder than usual. And Sirius, being the resourceful man that he was, took advantage of her ticklishness. So, as Rosie was screaming and laughing rather loudly, drawing the attention from the Gryffindor team on the pitch, she finally managed to gasp out. "PLEASE SIRIUS! STOP!" He only shook his head, and pulled on a pondering look at he said aloud. "What would you give me if I stop?" Rosie was writhing around, trying to kick and slap away his tickling fingers while laughing hysterically, but seemed to be able to do neither, as Sirius adjusted his position and was able to pin her hands and feet while still tickling her.  
"ANYTHING! JUST STOP!" Rosie screamed, trying to throw him off her. Sirius grinned and tickled her for a few more minutes, which made Rosie vow in her head that once he let her go, that she'd probably throw his off the edge of the stands. Then, after a moment, she decided that that would be too quick and easy, she decided to hex him at least twice a day for the rest of their school year. Finally Sirius stepped away from her and smirked down at Rosie, his arms crossed over his chest. "Fine, Hunter. You owe me one favour that I can cash in whenever. Clear?" Rosie nodded and he leaned down a hand to help her, which she grabbed and pulled him back down to the floor, starting a new wrestling match between the both of them.


	5. Chapter 5

** Chapter 5- First year, part four**

* * *

Weeks passed and seasons changed. The weather grew colder and snow started to fall when the temperature was too low for rain.

Long hours on the weekends were spent indoors, exploring the castle or trying to kill enough time before classes started back and everyone had something to do.

Chess, gobstones and reading started to be highlights for the first years while the older year levels reveled in the new found free time and spent the endless winter afternoons trying to tame the infinite pile of homework and assessments that never seemed to stop growing.

Rosie had always been content with reading as she'd been a bookworm from a young age, her life always wrapped up in the pages of a novel somehow. But of course she couldn't spend those days lost in the warm contention that literature brought her as she was dragged around by a group of four particular boys.

Everyone else seemed comfortable enough in his or her menial tasks.

Everyone except the Marauders.

The group of four boys, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew that made up the "thick as thieves" group were already popular among all the students due to their endless creativity with pranks and unpopular with teachers for the exact same reason.

Calm contention had never been their favorite thing and they spent the winter days prowling the castle and setting up endless amounts of pranks.

Christmas was looming upon them all and the last thing anyone wanted before the holiday was to be pranked by the boys who apparently never held back when it came to pranks.

Rosie had even had endless numbers of people come up to her, begging for her to somehow reverse whatever the rowdy boys had done. It had surprised her the first few times, as the people were a lot older than the girl.

The way she'd changed her hair to blonde and her eyes to a dull grey did throw some people off her tracks for a while but it didn't last long.

Not at all.

One of the best pranks had to have been the day everyone left for Christmas break.

Everything was in a sort of organized chaos as students and teachers rushed around to organize things for their trips and the students who were staying at Hogwarts.

Upon hearing she could stay, Rosie's heart leapt for joy. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with her family this year, not after her mother had mentioned her arranged marriage to her in the last forty seven letters.

All of which had been promptly burnt and used to keep the fire burning at a merry level.

Sirius and James had decided to stay as well; while Remus and Peter longed for home more than any of the other boys seemed to.

Rosie knew exactly why Sirius was staying and couldn't help picturing the horrific family she'd seen on the platform.

And she thought her family was bad but taking a rather large step back, she could clearly see that everything wasn't all sunshine and buttermellows for one of her best mates.

But it wasn't that easy for her either and when she thought about it, that was what really brought her and Sirius together on something. The continuous way he called her Red and how she called him White, just to piss him off, made their odd friendship flourish like a flower in a hot house.

Well, back to the prank.

It was quite genius when she thought of it.

The Marauders were good at utilizing things to their advantage and the prank was no exception.

Chaos and un-organisation was the Marauders elements and they wasted absolutely no time planning and acting out the biggest and possibly the best prank during their first year.

Up to the prank, the Marauders had caused a lot of mischief and had already acted out over twenty-nine detentions for their tendency to cause absolutely mayhem.

Prior to the prank, Rosie had been introduced to James Potter's "secret", which was as astounding as it sounded to the muggleborn first year, was an invisibility cloak.

And not shotty one like most people had that you could see the slightest shift in the background or the air, which would alert you to them. No, it was as beautiful, silky and absolutely perfect as a cloak could be.

Some people might've used it to sneak down to the kitchens for more food, eavesdrop on teacher's private conversations and to toy around with the ghosts, which was what the boy's did- but of course with their classic marauder twist.

Pranks and mischief were their forte and people looked up at them for it.

So, the cloak was a big prize in the prank working as well as it did.

Sirius and James, both under the cloak, had snuck into McGonagall's quarters, Rosie had always wondered by they hadn't chosen a less frightening teacher to prank, and had riffled through her drawers until they found a clean pair of her bloomers.

It went a lot like this.

Students, trunks and owls were everywhere as everyone rushed to get home, the thought of a short holiday with their family seemed priceless and no one was ready to give it up or slow down in the slightest way.

But one particular thing caused everyone, first year and seventh year alike, to absolutely stop in his or her tracks and gape at the sight.

The sight of a pair of floral bloomers parading it's way down the hallway, apparently upon its own whim.

"Why are you all stopping? Keep going! Come on! You have a train to ca-" McGonagall's voice trailed off as she looked at the sight, her face slowly turning a darker red until she yelled, "Who did this!?" as she stormed up, snatched up the bloomers and looked around at the laughing students with eyes narrowed accusatorily.

"Hunter! Where are those boys?' She snapped upon seeing Rosie who only gestured around helplessly, grey eyes as big as saucepans.

As if they'd been summoned, Sirius and James appeared beside her, a stack of books in both arms.

"Professor? What's wrong?"

An angry growl came from McGonagall as she stormed off to try and find out how her knickers had ended up where they had and why the Marauders weren't behind it.

Both boys burst out laughing when they were far away from her.

"That was a close one!"

"It looked like she was going to kill Rosie!" Sirius laughed and ruffled her auburn hair, eliciting a growl from her.

"Just the next time you prank someone, warn me. In advance."


End file.
